Something today reacted deeply from within, beyond even the Boston bombing, the Oklahoma FedEx beheading, “Doctor” Hassan’s 13 murders, and similar events. When I learned that four Marines were gunned down in cold blood, it hit deep. And then when I heard it was a Kuwaiti, my response escalated well beyond any previous terrorist event. The depth and strength of my response initially surprised me.

Kuwait?! They’d just be another province of Iraq, if it was not for the United States! Yet their citizens are becoming more radicalized and anti-U.S. by the day, it seems. Perhaps just because of my own very personal involvement in helping that nation in the 70s, and knowing people who put their lives on the line in 1990 in far more dangerous circumstances than just being in cockpits with those people’s pilots, all for the sake of helping them defend and finally even rebuild themselves, I simply cannot wrap my head around today. A Somali? Certainly. A Saudi? Sure. An Iraqi? Not surprising. But a Kuwaiti?!? We freakin’ saved them! We may have even saved this kid’s parents’ lives (he would have been born the year after we gave them their country back).

Meanwhile, the wives, children, parents, and other loved ones of four U.S. Marines, who were not even allowed to arm themselves in self-defense, now sit in shock and grief, having to say goodbye to their loved ones’ remains, rather than greeting them for supper right about now.

I’ll close with the thought that we all basically know already – but sometimes need reminding. It’s escalating, and our nation seems hell-bent on facilitating that. Meanwhile, peace, security and freedom are concurrently being eliminated. Each of us owes it not only to ourselves, but to those that matter most to us, to not have to look back and wish we’d done what we could to adequately prepare, when we still could have. As I continue to consider our own preparation, my prayers go up on behalf of those who today lost people precious to them. And I will pray that our military will be allowed to adequately defend themselves, particularly now that it’s obvious they’re distinctive targets.. Isn’t it ironic that those of us that no longer (or perhaps never did) wear the uniform of our nation, are generally still able to quietly protect ourselves, yet those whose lives are on the line daily, are not….

Thats how our country does business , stick your head up your a$$ and go in with no plan , long term or short . Taking land is easy , its staying there that falls apart . When your dealing with a foreign people , foreign culture , and mindset . Even with the best of intentions , you are still an outsider , and if you stay there too long , you start to look like an invader . I have a buddy that was in Vietnam , he had the same frustrations about those people during that war . People with very different politics or religion will not think the same way we do , why we continue to expect that from them is beyond my comprehension , Communists and Islam are the worst case . We just need to get out of the world policeman business , we are not very good at it . The REAL enemy of America is right here at home . Just Sayin
” If tyranny is to come to this land , it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy “

There is a scripture that is dear to me – not because I like it, but because it represents a truth we cannot afford to dismiss or even push to the side: “Ye hear of wars in far countries, and you say that there will soon be great wars in far countries, but ye know not the hearts of men in your own land.”

I just listened to the President’s reaction. He’ll only go as far as calling the jihadi a “lone guman”. He still refuses to use the words Islam or Islamic in conjunction with any terrorist event. He wouldn’t even use the words terror or terrorism. Whereas I could feel the emotion in GeorgiaSaint’s comments, the President’s comments had all the emotion one would expect of someone ordering take out dinner. He just doesn’t care.

Did anyone notice the “No Guns” sign on the bullet-ridden front door of that recruiting office? My blood boiled when I saw it on the news tonight! It’s an open invitation anywhere it’s posted. But again, I’m focusing on the loss of four men willing to sign a blank check, payable up to and including their lives, to the United States, and the grief of their loved ones just hours after they left for work this morning with plans for tonight, this weekend, and beyond. I just can’t shake that from my mind – or my heart. And it aches.

When I stopped by the Post Office late this afternoon, I asked one of the employees if he is a veteran (I strongly suspected he is). When he said he is, I asked if he’d yet heard the news about the four Marines, and tears immediately came to his eyes. But he did not yet know that the gunman was Kuwaiti. When I told him, I was stunned at what happened next. Why he had them with him today, immediately available as if on script, I have no earthly idea. But from his pocket he pulled out a zip lock bag of 3×5 photos. He did not tell me what they were at first, he just pulled them out, opened the bag, and first showed me a burned out tank in the desert beside the road. Then more photos of typical wartime destruction – they got worse as he went through them without comment. Finally, he said, “That’s Kuwait City. I was there!” It was clear that he was having a very difficult time knowing what he’d fought for, and suddenly finding out that it was one of those people’s children that did this thing today. I did not ask him about the photos, or why he had them in his pocket today. Conversation at that point was not appropriate. There were silent tears in both of our eyes. Knowing I was a veteran myself, as I walked away he said with all sincerity, “Thank you for your service.” I felt so inadequate at that moment, and replied, “Thank you, but thank YOU for YOUR service.” He’d actually been there. And as it turns out, he’d also been in Somalia with the Rangers during Mogadishu. The anguish of wasted “service” simply does not have words.

Some idiots are now calling for sandblasting Stone Mountain in Georgia and tearing down Mt. Rushmore because they represent slavery. Have we lost our collective minds???

While that pales in comparison to today’s events, I’ll still comment because it has relevance. That story has been the lead story on local news broadcasts here in my home state in recent days, as if it even qualifies as a legitimate news story – especially given the number of other things going on in the world that we tap into here in this forum. Yet those are never even mentioned to the general public by their sole-source for news (regardless of alphabet labels – CNNNBCCBSABCFOX), thus such stories are never known by them of course. Few Americans remember (or ever learned about subsequently) what Selco experienced first hand – except our military who were there. And like other deeply traumatic experiences, they rarely talk about those operations outside their tiny circles of others that were also there. And current here is the discussion of South Africa/Zimbabwe, and Cathy Buckle’s writings, for example. Yet sand-blasting off the face of Stone Mountain is a lead story…. Is it any wonder that almost no one notices the President’s lack of emotion and his consistent minimization of this awful threat throughout the world? (Obvious rhetorical question needing no answer.)

The key is in the philosophy summarized in the very last chapter of the Communist Manifesto. Forget the first three chapters. The fourth chapter is a mere 3/4 of a single page, and there you will find all you need to know about the book, if you aren’t interested in the “weeds.” And forget the “C” word (communism). It’s the philosophy that is being followed, not the polarized word describing it that matters, and it has not abated in 167 years since it was published: destroy the social and political order, by any means necessary, and then things will be ripe for the takeover. It does not matter what political label is used to describe the replacement for a constitutional republic – the mere fact that the replacement takes (is taking) place is all that matters. And that intended destruction of social and political order is the very reason we have the forum here. My deep appreciation to those that were here first and got it going – and keep it going.

He was the best guy when WW2 broke out , most likely the only guy we had that could diplomatically keep the triple alliance together . Stalin was not real big on Churchill , but he did respect FDR , and at that time , the cooperation was critical . Just Sayin
He got 4 terms for a reason , the people loved him .That was from a generation that was not the modern self entitled one we have now , he must have done something right . Did he do the best thing for the great depression ? probably not , but then again , nobody knew what to do , it had never happened before . Some countries turned to fascism , like Germany and Italy among others ………….but he was good at both war and peace , Churchill was pretty much only good for war , and was soon ousted after it was over . And considering we have not won a war sense …………………..again , he must have done something right .

I used to say that we are governed by our enemies, but that there are other, worse, enemies in the world, who are so obviously worse, that the people wouldn’t elect them. I will now eat those words — pass the ketchup, please.

The system of governance the founders laid out for us wasn’t perfect — just better than any other that had been tried, up to that time. They understood the pioneering nature of their work, and expected their descendants and successors to improve it, as needed. They said that it was only suited to “a moral people.” The Citizens themselves had the moral obligation to pay attention to their government, and fix whatever didn’t work properly … themselves.

As near as I can tell from what I read and hear, each succeeding generation following the founding, has instead, put most of their efforts into picking “leaders” from the long list of ambitious people wanting to “RUN THINGS.” Such prospective leaders promise to take over all those pesky civic duties, leaving the carefree sheeple to “pursue happiness.” The self-diminished sheepizens, having abandoned their civic responsibilities, are now only fit to complain that the tasks they didn’t want to do, were (and still are) done poorly, by their “leaders.”

I’m not talking about the members of this forum, nor many others I’ve met who have tried their best to halt and reverse the destruction of this nation. But we’re totally outnumbered by sheeple, and our opposition to the destruction of the Republic only makes “the news,” to condemn us.

Like an abandoned movie set, termite-eaten, rotted out, thoroughly undermined, but somehow still standing, America still appears to exist, until the next Left-wind from Washington blows away the last few remaining prop-sticks. Now, it’s only an illusion. A generation that never had to fight to win their country, who learns its “history” from a government-run indoctrination system, is never going to produce enough people who want to do the necessary mental work to keep it. All they ever learn thoroughly, is how much they despise learning.

Fight? Oh, sure they’ll fight. (If only physical combativeness were all it took to create (or save) a nation.) Rah! Rah! Rah! They like being rowdy: speak ill of their parentage, and they’ll clobber you on the spot! But read? … think? … write better laws?…naahhh! That’s sissy stuff, and unless it’s about puttin’ more money in yer pocket, fuhgeddaboudit! The few exceptions have always been a despised minority, except once — when almost everybody could read, and learned almost everything they knew from working, and reading the Bible, and other books … at home.

Tec, you’re dangerous! {grin} But not too dangerous. After all, as you said, this nation is beyond the point where it is “…ever going to produce enough people who want to do the necessary mental work to keep it.” Plus, we’re both at an age where we’re likely past being considered sufficient threats to do much more than basically monitor at most. And it appears that like me, you see things as having gone past the point of no return, as evidenced by the closing line of your post. Indeed, we will make our best efforts to survive, and hope that enough of the survivors are battered into reality and thereby become teachable by those that have been around long enough to still understand.

L.Tecolote .
The US Constitution may not be perfect , BUT , it is in my mind the single greatest document ever created by man . It is that document and its ideas , that will leave a continuing legacy for future generations , weather or not the nation exists that created it , similar in greatness to the Roman Empire , with principles of law , engineering , etc . Like the Romans , that document was ahead of its time .